Sport Business Management BA (Hons)

Teaching and Learning

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and by feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative.

Teaching

The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support through the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful. You are taught through a combination of seminars, interactive lectures, tutorial groups and learning sets alongside various digital technologies such as Blackboard, Twitter and You Tube.

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors (PATs) are scheduled on at least 4 occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course. The Sport Business Management course supports your PAT sessions throughout your time at University with a personal academic journal which you receive within induction week and you also have access to other resources within your year group Blackboard page.

You have an opportunity to engage in a number of modules where scenario and case study approach are utilised to contextualise theory and practice and students are encouraged to engage through discussion and group work. This interactive approach encourages an applied approach from theory to practical 'real-world' application which enhance academic and employability skills.

Contact time

In a typical week you will have around 12 - 16 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the second and third year you will normally have slightly less contact time in order to do more independent study or work within your professional placement.

Typically class contact time will be structured around 3-4 hours of interactive lecture/seminar or practical sessions dependent on module and year of study.

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 24-48 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve:

• Completing specific module related directed study tasks
• Engaging with online activities (e.g. twitter)
• Topic reading and research
• Working on individual and group projects
• Preparing for assignments and learning experiences
• Reflection and evaluation
• Revision of class notes and engaging with blackboard

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Teaching staff

Students will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes academics and practitioners as well as guest speakers from the sport industry.

Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy, and the majority of course lecturers have a Higher Education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. Students can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Assessment

The course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or 'formative' assignments. Each module has one or more formal or 'summative' assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade.

Assessment methods include:

• Exams and Essays
• Formal Group, Paired or Individual Presentations
• Project work
• Student led seminar discussions
• Reports
• Infographics and marketing campaigns
• Research Proposals

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

Year 1

• Written work (e.g. essay, report, portfolio)
• Exams or In-class tests
• Presentations (e.g. groups, pairs)
• Seminar discussion

Year 2

• Written work (e.g. essay, report, portfolio)
• In-class test
• Presentations (e.g. group & individual)
• Data collection and research proposal

Sandwich Year Placement

• Reflective Portfolio

Year 3

• Written work (e.g. report, business plan, journal article)
• Student led seminar
• Presentation (e.g. individual, poster)

Duration

• 3 years full-time
• 4 years full-time including one year placement
• Up to 6 years part-time

Timetables

Timetables are normally available one month before registration. Please note that whilst we try to be as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week; and some classes can be scheduled in the evenings.

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.